Random ramblings of a Rose…

Posts tagged ‘Facebook’

Okay, so I won’t even bother to try and apologize for how long I’ve been away. Totally my bad. Sometimes I’m great at this blog thing, sometimes I stink. More often the latter than the former, lol. At any rate, let me catch you up on what you’ve missed!

October 2011

I discovered Pinterest (I’ll see if I can figure out how to post a link to my page…)

I organized our whole kitchen and we stopped using paper towels except for disgusting messes – the boys enjoy using facecloths for everything!

Jose found Squishy’s old swim trunks (size 0-3 months) and put them on – picture to follow

I pinned way too many things on Pinterest, lol

The boys learned a hard lesson about reality. Reality dictates that when you are told you must behave in order to go to your friend’s birthday party in the afternoon, that doesn’t mean use your plates as frisbees and break one of them (Squishy), eat the food mom specifically set aside for her lunch and then lie and claim your brother did it (Jose), open your father’s computer and mess around on it while mom’s in the bathroom (Squishy), scream at your brother repeatedly at the top of your lungs (Jose), or continue to take your brother’s toys over and over and over after being told to knock it off (Squishy.) They didn’t get to go to the birthday party.

I got my Facebook timeline, which I personally LOVE

The boys’ grandpa on Daddy’s side passed away (Oct 11, 2011) after having serious health issues for what seems like forever, and Jose was extremely upset that he didn’t get a chance to see him again before he died – cried for a long time 😥

Jose had some night-time accidents out of the blue, but then stopped again (praise God!)

Squishy and I made awesome Halloween crafts at the YMCA

Squishy and I had a playdate with/babysat two adorable kiddos

My friend’s father went missing and was just found yesterday after six months of intense prayer and searching – his family is obviously saddened at the loss, but rejoicing that they know where his is and where he is spending eternity

Jose got sick and had to miss his first day of school, but got well and went back the next day to do his school’s Harvest Walk during which he walked 4.63 miles in 2 hours – he also won a giftcard for having the most sponsors of all the Kindergartners

Squishy and I found a Starbucks gift card hiding in an old envelope and went out to get a treat

The boys lost a half a roll of stamps – it was found 5 1/2 months later

We all went to Flagstaff and enjoyed some time with Badi and Pop-pop – carved awesome pumpkins while we were there. Jose had to go back to Phoenix for school, of course, and unfortunately, we ended up with no pictures of him on Halloween because the cameras were in Flagstaff and he wasn’t! He was a doctor again, though, so we can just copy the ones from last year, lol. 😉

November 2011

Jose learned how to ride his bike without training wheels!! He went from training wheels to pushing off, riding all up and down the street, and stopping all in one day!

Jose lost a 2nd tooth (November 8) – right next to the other one. No more loose ones since then, though

Aunt Laurla graduated with her nursing degree – woo hoo!!!

Jose learned how to be even more of a smart-ass. Case in point: “Daddy: Do you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Jose: No. Daddy: You don’t?? Jose: No. Daddy: Well, what DO you want? Jose: A poke in the eye with a sharp stick.” Ha ha ha ha!!! 😀

Jose was blessed with a gift (to be kept till Christmas) from an anonymous donor – the one thing he had specifically been talking about wanting, the Littlest Pet Shop Rescue Tails Center ❤

Jose and I made apple pie

We celebrated Thanksgiving with EVERYONE! Not all at the same time, but we saw my family and Daddy’s family, including the boys’ older half-siblings and their families

We celebrated Daddy’s birthday (Mommy and Daddy got to try out the new AMC dine-in theater and Studio Movie Grill – so cool!)

I pinned way too many more things to Pinterest

Squishy and I went to the mall with friends and he played Monkey Preschool Lunchbox for a good 20 minutes at least while they got help at the Apple store

December 2011

We all tried out the fire pit at Badi and Pop-pop’s house

Squishy got sick and had to have breathing treatments – fortunately, we already have the machine and everything we need at home!

Jose’s Kindergarten class had a Cowboy Christmas Party at McCormick Railroad Park, for which Badi bought him INCREDIBLE cowboy boots – Aunt Laurla got to go with him!

Squishy fell off the toilet and bashed his head on the toilet paper holder – it wasn’t bad, but he bled like a stuck pig and I was scared out of my mind

Jose and I made an awesome Christmas gift for his teacher

The biscuits exploded in our fridge

We celebrated an AMAZING Christmas

Jose perfected his spiral football pass to Uncle Jimmy (henceforth referred to as “Dude”, thanks to Squishy) whild he was in town

We (the adults) went to the Insight Bowl game and witnessed the trouncing of the Iowa Hawkeyes – the boys got to be babysat by Aunt Laurla, which they loved!

January 2012

Squishy and I went and visited Ms. Jess – always a great time when we do that!!! Love her ❤

Jose got to have a playdate with his twin friends from preschool!

Pastor Frank left our church 😦

Jose went on a hike with Daddy, Badi, and Aunt Eggy

I inexplicably deleted everything off my external hard-drive and am still working on recovering files to this day – including all of my photos from around February 2011 through January 2012. GO ME!!!

February 2012

Squishy got his 2nd official haircut – I hated it and probably won’t be taking him again till he has to go to Kindergarten

Jose and Squishy had a mud day – Squishy was covered from head to toe; I had to insist that Jose get dirty. Those two!! LOL!

Badi and I organized our entire book collection (well, not quite – we still need shelves for all of the early reader/picture books)

Jose had a Valentine’s celebration at school that I went in to help with; we also celebrated at home, of course

I got a new camera!

The boys played a lot of baseball and soccer, went on hikes, and went to the park – mostly with Badi and Aunt Eggy

Jose and Daddy went on a hike with Pastor Frank, because Jose really misses him and is hoping to stay his friend

Jose got fancied up for his “Elegant Event” at school

The boys did a LOT of bike riding – even going a couple miles at a time with Daddy (well, Squishy sat in the seat on the back of Daddy’s bike for that, lol)

We discovered that Jose is an amazing artist

Jose went and saw Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace in theaters with me – I saw it with my dad for my birthday 13 years ago

Squishy got to have his very first Dunkin Donut

March 2012

Squishy and I went and spent the day with Ms. Jess and we got to see horses, too!

The boys started soccer with Aunt Eggy as their coach – they love it but have a little bit of a hard time staying focused

Jose watched Labyrinth for the first time. He was completely engrossed and looked equal parts horrified and amused, lol!

Jose took part in his first art contest – it ended this past week and he didn’t win, but he did get tickets to see Van Gogh Live! at the Science Center

Daddy and I celebrated our 8th anniversary and Jose bought me flowers because he wanted me to know how much he loved me, lol

Dude and his girlfriend came and visited Phoenix and we had a great time with them – especially getting to know Ms. Caitie!

The boys fell in love with Party Rock Anthem thanks to Kia’s Hamster commercial

Jose had his first “official” kiss – well, she actually kissed him, and it was at the prompting of the class troublemaker, but still… 😉

Jose got to go to Pump It Up to celebrate a friend’s birthday and had a BLAST!

Aunt Eggy and I took the boys to see The Lorax – even Squishy did pretty good despite asking if the movie was done 5 minutes into it

Jose sent Flat Stanley to Dude in North Carolina

Badi and I had to tell Jose the story of Adam Walsh. He just will not stay by me in stores lately – insists on disappearing and he about gave me a heart attack in Bookmans. I was a little worried it would give him nightmares (it didn’t seem to), but honestly? When the other option is him being kidnapped, I’ll take a few nightmares any day. 😐

We got an iPad. Enough said.

Jose went to another friend’s birthday party – this one at a park and hosted by High 5 Sports (it was supposed to have been the day after his other one, but was postponed due to rain.) Since Momma and Daddy were leaving for Flagstaff that day, he got to be picked up after school by his friend’s mom. He felt so grown up.

We spent Spring Break in Flagstaff in a BIG condo – Badi and Pop-pop joined us for a few days. We went to the park, played sports, hiked, saw Indian ruins – all kinds of fun!! Jose’s favorite part was getting to use our hot tub, lol.

Jose discovered Tim Hawkins. He is in love. Ha ha!

April 2012:

The boys started swim lessons – Squishy in the pool with Aunt Eggy, Jose in the pool independently, of course

Squishy got sick and have to have breathing treatments again, but he got better really quick!

Daddy and I finished the boys’ re-purposed crib chalkboard desk just in time for Easter!

We celebrated Easter in style – egg and basket search at home; Sunday School, Eggstravaganza, and service at church; another egg search (real eggs, this time!) at Badi and Pop-pop’s house; dinner with everyone at our house

I unknowingly started a firestorm this evening on my Facebook by posting what I thought was a perfectly innocent picture of Jose at dance class. He was wearing leg warmers because it was chilly at dance and I suppose that – combined with the fact that he was at ballet – was enough that some were worried for Jose’s mental stability and future sexuality. I don’t really want to re-hash the whole thing here, but we (friends/family) ended up having a (fairly) healthy debate about the topic – 44 comments total. I had no idea that some of the people in my life (on both sides of the issue) held such strong views about right and wrong! To me, it’s really a non-issue. If Jose likes to wear leg warmers, play dress up with “girl” clothes, or sit on the couch and do my hair, great! If he’d rather crash his trucks, wrestle with his nephews, or laugh a big belly laugh EVERY TIME his brother toots, more power to him! (Although the last one does get on my nerves… 😉 😀 )

At any rate, I wanted copy my response to the whole thing here, not only for posterity (lol!), but also simply because as his mother, I think it bears repeating. So here goes:

I just want to say that I appreciate and understand the comments from both sides of my family. I personally don’t believe there is anything wrong with a 4 1/2 year old being a little creative, whether or not it is in public. He likes dance and tumbling, and this was the class we could afford that the City of Phoenix offered. He actually really wanted to be in gymnastics, but they didn’t have that available, so this was the next best thing.

I do believe, as the Bible states, that the ACT of homosexuality is a sin – I would think that anyone who claimed to know me at all would know that. However, I also believe that in this fallen and broken world, there are things beyond our control – including genetics – that have mutated and changed beyond God’s original purpose. This is to mean that I truly believe some people are born feeling as though they are in the wrong body. However, I also believe that this is something through which they can glorify God by remaining celibate and dedicating their life to God’s kingdom work – however much that may seem like it would suck.

THAT BEING SAID! Do I think Jose is gay? Really, no. If you saw how he behaves in class vs. how the girls behave, you’d see that despite his “metrosexual” tendencies, he is definitely a “boy” in the societal sense. And he loves doing all sorts of things that “boys” like to do. In fact, as I write this, he is rolling a truck across the room as hard as he can and cackling when it crashes into stuff.

I honestly don’t think that letting him play with dolls or wear his leg warmers if he wants to is going to do him any harm. In fact, it might do him some good! He goes around all day trying to emulate his father, who (by the way) does all of the following BECAUSE HE ENJOYS IT: writes poetry and songs, leaves “lovey-dovey” notes for me in the morning, gardens, cooks, does housecleaning to relieve stress, etc. etc. etc.

And honestly, considering all of the detrimental things that are typically attributed to men being men (beating the crap out of each other for fun, getting drunk and carousing, watching porn and going to strip clubs, etc.) I think I would quite prefer if Jose grew up to be like his father rather than like what most people would consider the ideal for a “man.”

And this:

I just don’t understand why things have to be such a big deal when he is as young as he is, and I don’t think that “That’s not a boy thing!” is a good enough excuse to break Jose’s heart. After this all started, I asked him what he would have done if I had told him he couldn’t wear his leg warmers tonight, and he said, “I would have been very upset. I would have cried.” And that, right there, is why what others think about him means so much less to me than what his little heart truly cares about.

Also, this:

Yeah, that’s the only part that worries me – how other kids will treat/respond to him. And I am still weighing the decision (as my mom did before me) of telling him the cold hard truth up front and possibly causing him to build an impenitrable wall around himself or letting him be who he wants to be and having a million little heartbreaks along the way that may eventually lead to that same wall being built. Either way, it really sucks.

But for now, since the kids he’s been around all love him and not a single one has made fun of him (in fact, he’s pretty much the most popular kid in school right now – something I NEVER managed to achieve, lol!) I will just continue to let him be himself.

So that’s all for tonight. I’ve posted the infamous picture below so you can judge for yourself.

Obviously, the boy this book was based on is much more “into” things that are considered to be only for girls than Jose is. And I think in Jose’s case, his interest in dressing “girly” is more likely to simply be something that lends itself to instilling a decent fashion sense in him when he is older, but when Jose read the book, it made him smile. And that was good enough for me.